Spread of DNA databases sparks ethical concerns

[OntarioVanMan]

The biggest database is in the United States — the FBI's Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, which holds information on more than 11 million people suspected of or convicted of crimes.
It is set to grow following a May Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right of police forces to take DNA swabs without a warrant from people who are arrested, not just those who are convicted. (Policies on DNA collection vary by state; more than half of the states and the federal government currently take DNA swabs after arrests.)

In Kansas in 2005, police identified Dennis Rader as a serial killer known as "BTK" through his daughter's DNA obtained, without her knowledge, from a pap smear in her medical records.

At what point do you say, enough is enough? Do we want to have a society where 5 percent of the crime is unsolved, or do we want to have a society where 100 percent of the crime is solved" but privacy is compromised. "What's the trade-off?"
NewsDaily: Spread of DNA databases sparks ethical concerns

 

[Maverick]

The old adage goes.......I'd rather let a guilty man go, than hang an innocent one.

Keep the privacy, and the adage.

DNA evidence is not enough for the unscrupulous. Records altered, false tests, and overall corruption in the justice system will ensure this doesn't work 100%. The sad part here is, the justice system has become almost as corrupt, as the corruption outside that venue.

Be careful what we wish for.........?

 

[RoadTime]

In Kansas in 2005, police identified Dennis Rader as a serial killer known as "BTK" through his daughter's DNA obtained, without her knowledge, from a pap smear in her medical records.

Well you sight a good reason for it. Obviously they had their suspicions to do so. A little, ok very underhanded. But the results can't be denied. And I highly doubt everyone that gets a pap smear is getting run. But you bring up a good point.

 

[Turtle]

"A little, ok very underhanded. But the results can't be denied."

The ends justify the means? That's a dangerously slippery slope right there.

Just ask the NSA. They know.

 

[Maverick]

The ends justify the means? That's a dangerously slippery slope right there.

Just ask the NSA. They know.

That's just it, and brings another point. Too far fetched to believe these samples would be used to say; convict a political opponent? How tightly controlled are the test results? Would this be a pandora's box better left alone?

Little scary to have something which absolutely convicts you, given the society in which we live, let alone gathering it without you knowing? Just as there are people who sit in prison who can (and have been) exonerated by these results, so to is the possibility you could join them by a mistake in the lab, or the wrong person getting hold of it.

 

[LDB]

So what's the answer? Do you use DNA which is the one absolute form of evidence or do you go back to the old reliable eyewitness system? If DNA is going to be used, who should it be collected from? Only those convicted of a crime? Only those charged and tried for a crime? Anyone arrested for a crime? Lots of tough choices.

 

[Maverick]

So what's the answer? Do you use DNA which is the one absolute form of evidence or do you go back to the old reliable eyewitness system? If DNA is going to be used, who should it be collected from? Only those convicted of a crime? Only those charged and tried for a crime? Anyone arrested for a crime? Lots of tough choices.

That's my vote. First the eyewitnesses, then the charge. DNA only used as a confirmation tool.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

It has been known that eyewitness accounts are the least reliable evidence you could ever have!! Fingerprints DNA Then eyewitness...

 

[Maverick]

It has been known that eyewitness accounts are the least reliable evidence you could ever have!! Fingerprints DNA Then eyewitness...

One uses the witness to help bring the charge. That unreliable is then confirmed/denied using the prints and DNA. Witness is not evidence, it's testimony, or used to assist in the warrant process. I see what you mean, but I would like to see the horse, before that cart. Otherwise, your fingerprinting and collecting DNA before a charge has been made.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

This is the fly in the ointment part.. a witness makes a statement and arrest is made fingerprinting nDNA done oh oh eyewitness was wrong.... The fingerprints DNA and mugshots should all be destroyed this point but is it???

 

[layoutshooter]

ALL governments are bad. DNA databases are being setup as a weapon against the People. There is NO legitimate need to sample everyone arrested. Freedom is like everything else in life, you use it, or lose it. Once given up it will never be returned. Better fight this now or you will HAVE to fight it latter. Now it can still be fought in the courts or congress. It won't be able to be fought there for long. The next fight will be in the streets.

 

[Maverick]

The next fight will be in the streets.

That will be a losing proposition. There was never one new law or department needed for some supposed enemy lurking behind every tree.

It's too late for waking up now. The sleeping herd will never wake up, and even if they did? All internal measures are in place for the outright trouncing of any resistance. Heck, you can't even peacefully assemble now, and all brush fires are put out, or compromised, immediately.

The system was supposed to work like this:

Enough evidence or eyewitness testimony was offered to a judge, who then issues a warrant.

Person is arrested on grounds, and the warrant issued with formal charge.

Person is then fingerprinted and heads for trial.

Now, your guilty and must prove your innocence, while everything is plea bargained to avoid the courts. I've seen people who were outright elated because a traffic violation was reduced....when the initial trumped up charge never happened in the first place. So, if they want you, and have your DNA, which is almost an automatic conviction, who's controlling the distribution of that DNA?

 

[layoutshooter]

That will be a losing proposition. There was never one new law or department needed for some enemy lurking behind every tree.

It's too late for waking up now. The sleeping herd will never wake up, and even if they did? All internal measures are in place for the outright trouncing of any resistance. Heck, you can't even peacefully assemble now, and all brush fires are put out or compromised immediately.

The system was supposed to work like this:

Enough evidence or eyewitness testimony was offered to a judge, who then issues a warrant.

Person is arrested on grounds, and the warrant issued with formal charge.

Person is then fingerprinted and heads for trial.

Now, your guilty and must prove your innocence, while everything is plea bargained to avoid the courts. I've seen people who were outright elated because a traffic violation was reduced....when the initial trumped up charge never happened in the first place. So, if they want you, and have your DNA, which is almost an automatic conviction, who's controlling the distribution of that DNA?

NO government, or country, can stand once enough people decide that it will not. It may not happen in my lifetime, since I am SO OLD, but it WILL happen. Sooner or later things will become bad enough to strike the spark. It is only a matter of time. The bigger the government, the more corrupt. The more corrupt, the lazier. The lazier it becomes the faster it will fall.

It will be ugly, millions will die, but it will happen and NOTHING can stop it.

 

[Maverick]

One thing about it Shooter, would have to admire your passion.

This poster will abstain from further comment on that subject. Got enough religious nuts around here who would turn this into an end times thread.

 

[layoutshooter]

One thing about it Shooter, one has to admire your passion.

This poster will abstain from further comment on that subject. Got enough religious nuts around here who would turn this into a end times thread.

I was not talking anything religious/faith based at all. I am not THAT kind of NUT! LOL!! Just talking about the human animal and how that applies in Caesar's realm, not God's. What happens in God's realm, and time, will happen when it does.